U.S. patent number 11,138,822 [Application Number 14/741,798] was granted by the patent office on 2021-10-05 for paper sheet processing device.
This patent grant is currently assigned to UNIVERSAL ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION. The grantee listed for this patent is Universal Entertainment Corporation. Invention is credited to Takao Nireki.
United States Patent |
11,138,822 |
Nireki |
October 5, 2021 |
Paper sheet processing device
Abstract
A bill processing apparatus which is capable of reliably
supplying information on a bill to the bill housing body side. The
paper sheet processing apparatus has a bill housing part (100)
being capable of housing a bill inserted from a bill insertion
slot, and also a reader/writer (142) which wirelessly transmits
information on the bill inserted from the bill insertion slot. The
bill housing part (100) has a coil antenna (104c) which wirelessly
receives the information transmitted from the reader/writer (142),
and a storage part (104b) which stores the information on the bill
received from the coil antenna (104c).
Inventors: |
Nireki; Takao (Tokyo,
JP) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Universal Entertainment Corporation |
Tokyo |
N/A |
JP |
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Assignee: |
UNIVERSAL ENTERTAINMENT
CORPORATION (Tokyo, JP)
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Family
ID: |
1000005847492 |
Appl.
No.: |
14/741,798 |
Filed: |
June 17, 2015 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20150284212 A1 |
Oct 8, 2015 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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12809476 |
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9505582 |
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PCT/JP2008/073014 |
Dec 17, 2008 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Dec 20, 2007 [JP] |
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JP2007-328144 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04B
1/04 (20130101); G07D 7/01 (20170501); B65H
43/04 (20130101); G07D 11/23 (20190101); G07D
11/30 (20190101); B65H 29/46 (20130101); G07D
11/28 (20190101); B65H 31/00 (20130101); G07D
11/34 (20190101); G07D 11/50 (20190101); B65H
43/06 (20130101); G07D 11/13 (20190101); B65H
31/22 (20130101); B65H 29/14 (20130101); B65H
2557/23 (20130101); B65H 2557/13 (20130101); B65H
2553/22 (20130101); B65H 2511/514 (20130101); B65H
2701/1313 (20130101); B65H 2701/1912 (20130101); B65H
2557/11 (20130101); B65H 2407/11 (20130101); B65H
2301/331 (20130101); B65H 2553/52 (20130101); B65H
2511/514 (20130101); B65H 2220/01 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G07D
11/30 (20190101); G07D 11/50 (20190101); B65H
29/46 (20060101); B65H 31/22 (20060101); G07D
7/01 (20160101); G07D 11/23 (20190101); G07D
11/34 (20190101); G07D 11/28 (20190101); G07D
11/13 (20190101); B65H 43/06 (20060101); H04B
1/04 (20060101); B65H 43/04 (20060101); B65H
31/00 (20060101); B65H 29/14 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;194/206,207 ;209/534
;235/379 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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2-14172 |
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Jan 1990 |
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JP |
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11-296724 |
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Oct 1999 |
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JP |
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2002-319054 |
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Oct 2002 |
|
JP |
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2002-329235 |
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Nov 2002 |
|
JP |
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2004-157740 |
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Jun 2004 |
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JP |
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2005-18644 |
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Jan 2005 |
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JP |
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Primary Examiner: Shapiro; Jeffrey A
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Lex IP Meister, PLLC
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A paper sheet processing apparatus comprising: a main body
including a paper sheet insertion slot formed in a front side of
the main body, and a paper sheet conveyance mechanism that conveys
a paper sheet inserted from the paper sheet insertion slot; a stand
formed below the main body; and a housing that stores the paper
sheet conveyed by the paper sheet conveyance mechanism and is
mountable and demountable from the stand along a sliding direction,
wherein the paper sheet conveyance mechanism conveys the paper
sheet to a feed port of the housing by discharging the paper sheet
along a paper sheet traveling route that is extended from the paper
sheet insertion slot toward inside of the main body and is formed
to be bent at a back side of the main body so as to be inclined
downward, wherein the apparatus further comprises: a reader that is
disposed on the main body and reads, from the paper sheet inserted
into the paper sheet insertion slot, information of the paper
sheet; and a transmitter that is disposed on a rear surface side of
the main body and sends wirelessly the information read by the
reader, wherein the housing comprises an antenna that receives
wirelessly the information from the transmitter and is installed on
an upper wall of the housing, wherein the stand is frame-shaped by
being surrounded by a pair of side plates facing each other, a
bottom plate, and a back plate, the bottom plate and the back plate
are sandwiched by the pair of side plates, and the housing is
inserted into the frame of the stand so that the housing and the
stand pass each other, wherein when the housing is completely
mounted on the stand, an outer periphery of the housing is held by
the side plates, the back plate and the bottom plate of the stand
so that a positional relationship of the transmitter and the
antenna is defined to allow the antenna to receive the information
from the transmitter, wherein the upper wall of the housing is
spaced apart from a ceiling plate of the stand and a first surface
of the transmitter partly faces a surface of the antenna such that
a distance between the transmitter and the antenna is maintained to
allow a communication between the transmitter and the antenna to be
performed when the housing is incompletely mounted to the stand,
wherein when the housing is incompletely mounted, a lower wall of
the housing is partly overlapped with the bottom plate of the
stand, and wherein the apparatus, further comprises: a plurality of
magnetic sensors that are installed at a plurality of locations
along the sliding direction and generate a detection signal when
detecting that a number of paper sheets stacked in the housing
reaches a first predetermined number being less than a second
predetermined number corresponding to a full state of the housing;
and a controller that: starts counting the number of paper sheets
that are stacked in the housing after the magnetic sensor generates
the detection signal; repeatedly transmits a notification that the
housing is approaching the full state each time the controller
counts the number of paper sheets; and stops storing the paper
sheet into the housing when the counted number reaches the second
predetermined number.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a storage that
stores the information of the paper sheet received through the
antenna, a placing plate on which the paper sheet is stacked, a
magnet that is disposed on the placing plate and generates a
magnetic field when a number of paper sheets stacked in the housing
reaches a threshold value, a magnetic sensor that is disposed on
the main body and receives the magnetic field, and a controller
configured to: start counting a number of paper sheets that are
stacked in the housing after the magnetic sensor receives the
magnetic field, and stop storing the paper sheet into the housing
when the counted number is ten or more, and wherein the antenna
includes a loop antenna having a loop surface such that a
communication direction of the antenna is perpendicular to the loop
surface, the first surface of the transmitter is substantially
parallel to the loop surface and is broader than a second surface
of the transmitter perpendicular to the loop surface, the housing
is slidably mounted and demounted on the stand, the upper wall of
the housing is parallel to an opposing surface side of the stand
during the sliding of the housing into the stand such that the loop
surface and the first surface of the transmitter are substantially
parallel to each other, the first surface of the transmitter and
the loop surface of the antenna are located substantially parallel
to a direction of the movement of the housing when mounting and
demounting, the loop surface is positioned such that the antenna
receives the information from the transmitter even when the housing
is not located at a predetermined position after the housing is
mounted on the frame, the loop surface of the antenna and the first
surface of the transmitter entirely overlap each other when the
housing is located at the predetermined position, and the upper
wall of the housing entirely overlaps the first surface of the
transmitter when the housing is at the predetermined position.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a validator that
determines validity of the paper sheet inserted from the paper
sheet insertion slot, wherein the controller is configured to (a)
determine whether an input is received when the paper sheet is
determined to be valid by the validator; (b) drive the paper sheet
conveyance mechanism to convey the paper sheet to the housing when
it is determined that the input is received; and (c) transmit
paper-sheet-reception information to the storage and a higher-rank
device after the paper sheet is received in the housing.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the controller is further
configured to: (d) detect whether the housing is full after
transmitting the paper-sheet-reception information; and (e)
generate a detection signal when the housing is detected to be
full.
5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the controller is further
configured to generate a notification that the housing is
approaching a full state.
6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the controller is further
configured to generate a notification that the housing is
approaching a full state when the counted number does not exceed
nine.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises:
a storage that stores the information of the paper sheet received
through the antenna; a first plate on which the paper sheet is to
be stacked; a second plate; and a pair of regulatory members
disposed on both sides of the first plate, wherein the antenna
includes a loop antenna having a loop surface such that a
communication direction of the antenna is perpendicular to the loop
surface, wherein the first surface of the transmitter is
substantially parallel to the loop surface.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transmitter further has a
second surface perpendicular to the loop surface, the first surface
being broader than the second surface, wherein the housing is
slidably mounted and demounted on the stand, wherein the upper wall
of the housing is parallel to an opposing surface side of the stand
during the sliding of the housing into the stand such that the loop
surface and the first surface of the transmitter are substantially
parallel to each other, wherein the first surface of the
transmitter and the loop surface of the antenna are located
substantially parallel to a direction of the movement of the
housing when mounting and demounting, wherein the loop surface is
positioned such that the antenna receives the information from the
transmitter even when the housing is not located at a predetermined
position after the housing is mounted on the frame, wherein the
loop surface of the antenna and the first surface of the
transmitter entirely overlap each other when the housing is located
at the predetermined position, and wherein the upper wall of the
housing entirely overlaps the first surface of the transmitter when
the housing is at the predetermined position.
9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second predetermined
number is ten.
10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a validator that
determines validity of the paper sheet inserted from the paper
sheet insertion slot, wherein the controller: determines whether an
input is received when the paper sheet is determined to be valid by
the validator; drives the paper sheet conveyance mechanism to
convey the paper sheet to the housing when it is determined that
the input is received; and transmits paper-sheet-reception
information to the storage and a higher-rank device after the paper
sheet is received in the housing.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller: detects
whether the housing is full after transmitting the
paper-sheet-reception information; and generates a detection signal
when the housing is detected to be full.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a paper sheet processing apparatus
(or device), which is incorporated into a service device such as
various types of gaming machines, automatic vending machines, and
the like to provide a product, a service, etc. upon insertion of a
paper sheet having an economic value such as a bill, a coupon, and
the like.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, a bill processing apparatus, which is one of the
embodiments of the above-mentioned paper sheet processing
apparatus, is incorporated into a service device such as a gaming
machine installed in a game hall or an automatic vending machine or
a ticket vending machine installed in a public location, or the
like, that identifies a validity of a bill inserted from an
insertion slot by a user and provides various types of products and
services according to the value of the bill that has been judged as
valid. In general, such a bill processing apparatus judges whether
the bill having been inserted from the insertion slot is true or
false and stores the bill having been judged as true in a housing
body (safe) which is mountable to and demountable from the bill
processing apparatus.
In regard to the above-described bill processing apparatus, it is
known to provide the housing body with a storage part such that
consistency between inserted bills and bills actually housed in the
housing body can be checked as disclosed in Patent Document 1. In
particular, the bill processing apparatus is configured such that a
bill identification control circuit board is installed in a bill
identification part on an apparatus main body side, a bill housing
body control circuit board is installed on the housing body side,
and communication between the two is enabled via a connection
terminal. That is, by sending information concerning an inserted
bill from the bill identification control circuit board to the bill
housing body control circuit board and storing the bill information
at the storage part mounted on the bill housing body control
circuit board, the information on the bills actually housed in the
housing body is stored and managed. [Patent Document 1] Japanese
unexamined patent application publication No. 2005-18644
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Problem to be Solved by the Invention
With the above-described bill processing apparatus disclosed in
Patent Document 1, a power and signal line and a pair of connection
terminals are disposed on the apparatus main body side while a pair
of connection terminals and a power and signal line are installed
on the housing body side that is attached to and detached from the
apparatus main body, whereby it is possible that the communications
may be disabled by an electrical contact failure between both pairs
of connection terminals when the housing body is mounted onto the
apparatus main body.
A paper sheet processing apparatus capable of reliably supplying
information concerning paper sheets to a housing body side is
provided.
Means to Solve the Problem
A paper sheet processing apparatus comprises a housing part being
capable of housing a paper sheet inserted from an insertion slot,
and a transmitting part wirelessly sending information on the paper
sheet inserted from the insertion slot, and the housing part
comprises an antenna wirelessly receiving the information sent from
the transmitting part, and a storage part storing the information
on the paper sheet received from the antenna. Further features of
the present invention, its nature, and various advantages will be
more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following
description of the preferred embodiment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire structure to
illustrate a configuration of a bill processing apparatus of this
embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the bill processing apparatus
in a state that an open/close member is opened for a main body
frame of an apparatus main body.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a power
transmission part of the apparatus main body.
FIG. 4 is a right side view schematically showing a traveling route
of a bill to be inserted from an insertion slot.
FIG. 5 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a power
transmission mechanism for driving the presser plate arranged in a
bill housing part.
FIG. 6 is a left side view showing a schematic configuration of a
driving source and a driving force transmission mechanism to drive
a bill conveyance mechanism.
FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a bill processing
apparatus.
FIG. 8 is a partially cut perspective view showing an interior of a
bill housing part as viewed from a side direction.
FIG. 9 is a partially cut perspective view showing an interior of
the bill housing part as viewed from a top.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing control means for controlling
operations of the bill processing apparatus.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing schematically a configuration of
external devices to manage deposit information of housed bills in
the bill processing apparatus.
FIG. 12A is a schematic view showing a configuration of a
reader/writer and storage means arranged in a
mounting-and-demounting direction of the bill housing part.
FIG. 12B is a schematic view showing a configuration of a
reader/writer and storage means arranged in a vertical direction to
the mounting-and-demounting direction of the bill housing part.
FIG. 12C is a partially enlarged schematic view illustrating a
distance change between both points as the reader/writer and the
storage means are referred to as respective points in the case of
FIG. 12A.
FIG. 12D is a partially enlarged schematic view illustrating a
distance change between storage means are referred to as respective
points in the case of FIG. 12B.
FIG. 13 shows a flowchart (part one) illustrating processing
operations for processing a bill in a bill processing apparatus of
this embodiment.
FIG. 14 shows a flowchart (part two) illustrating processing
operations for processing a bill in a bill processing apparatus of
this embodiment.
FIG. 15 shows a flowchart (part three) illustrating processing
operations for processing a bill in a bill processing apparatus of
this embodiment.
FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating processing operations of a
traveling route opening process.
FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a skew correction operating
process.
FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrating processing operations of a
traveling route closing process.
FIG. 19 shows a flowchart illustrating processing operations of a
presser plate driving process.
DESCRIPTION OF NOTATIONS
1 bill processing apparatus 2 apparatus main body 2A frame 3 bill
traveling route 5 bill insertion slot 6 bill conveyance mechanism 8
bill reading means 10 skew correction mechanism 100 bill housing
part 104 storage means 104a board 104b storage part 104c coil
antenna 105 placing plate 108 press standby part 115 presser plate
120 presser plate driving mechanism 140 magnetic sensor 140A magnet
142 reader/writer 200 control means 260 management server 280
management apparatus
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIGS. 1 to 9 are diagrams showing a bill processing apparatus of a
paper sheet processing apparatus as one of the embodiments
according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view
showing a general configuration thereof, FIG. 2 is a perspective
view showing a state that an open/close member is opened for a main
body frame of an apparatus main body, FIG. 3 is a perspective view
showing a configuration of a power transmission part of the
apparatus main body, FIG. 4 is a right side view schematically
showing a traveling route of a bill inserted from an insertion
slot, FIG. 5 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a power
transmission mechanism to drive a presser plate disposed in a bill
housing part, FIG. 6 is a left side view showing a schematic
configuration of a driving source and a driving force transmission
mechanism to drive a bill conveyance mechanism, FIG. 7 is an
exploded perspective view showing a bill processing apparatus, FIG.
8 is a partially cut perspective view showing an interior of a bill
housing part as viewed from a side direction, and FIG. 9 is a
partially cut perspective view showing an interior of the bill
housing part as viewed from a top.
A bill processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is configured to
be incorporable into, for example, various types of gaming machines
such as slot machines, and the bill processing apparatus 1 includes
an apparatus main body 2 and a bill housing part (bill stacker) 100
which is provided on the apparatus main body 2 and is capable of
stacking and housing a great number of bills. The bill housing part
100 has a function as a safe and is configured to be mountable to
and demountable from a frame 2A constituting the apparatus main
body 2. In this embodiment, for example, it is possible to remove
the bill housing part 100 from the frame 2A of the apparatus main
body 2 by pulling a handle 101 fixed to a front face thereof in a
state that a lock mechanism (not shown) is unlocked.
Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the above-described bill processing
apparatus 1 is mainly constituted of three structural bodies. That
is, the bill processing apparatus 1 comprises the apparatus main
body 2, a stand (frame member) 2D, in which the apparatus main body
2 is placed in a mountable/demountable manner, and a bill housing
part 100, installed into the stand 2D in a mountable/demountable
manner.
Here, a plate 2F that has installed thereon a circuit board 141 on
which a magnetic sensor 140 and a reader/writer 142 for reading and
writing information from and onto storage means 104 disposed on an
upper wall 102b of the paper sheet housing part so as to write bill
information thereon are implemented is installed onto a rear
surface side of the apparatus main body 2 as a unit. The plate 2F
is interposed between the frame 2A, constituting the apparatus main
body, and a top surface of the stand 2D and is fixed between these
components.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the apparatus main body 2 has the frame
2A and an open/close member 2B configured to be opened and closed
with its one end as a rotating center with respect to the frame 2A.
Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the frame 2A and the open/close member 2B
are configured to form a space (bill traveling route) 3 through
which a bill is carried such that both frame and member face
open/close member 2B is closed for the frame 2A, and to form a bill
insertion slot 5 such that front exposed faces of both frame and
member are aligned and that the bill traveling route 3 exits at the
bill insertion slot 5. In addition, the bill insertion slot 5 is a
slit-like opening from which a short side of a bill can be inserted
into the inside of the apparatus main body 2.
In the apparatus main body 2, a bill conveyance mechanism 6 that
conveys a bill; an insertion detecting sensor 7 that detects the
bill inserted into the bill insertion slot 5; bill reading means
(including a reading device such as an optical information reading
device and magnetic information reading device and the like) 8 that
is installed on a downstream side of the insertion detecting sensor
7 and reads information from the bill in a travelling state; a skew
correction mechanism 10 that accurately positions and conveys the
bill with respect to the bill reading means 8; a movable piece
passage detecting sensor 12 that detects that the bill passes
through movable pieces constituting the skew correction mechanism
10; a discharge detecting sensor 18 that detects that the bill is
discharged into the bill housing part 100; a presser plate
detecting sensor 23 for detecting a position of a presser plate 115
pressing the bill toward a placing plate 105 in the bill housing
part 100; a sensor (magnetic sensor 140) for detecting whether
bills stacked and housed in the bill housing part 100 are in a
predetermined state or not; and control means 200 (a control
circuit board 200A; refer to FIG. 10) for controlling the driving
of the bill conveyance mechanism 6, the bill reading means 8, the
skew correction mechanism 10, and so on are provided.
Hereafter, the respective components described above will be
described in detail. The bill traveling route 3 is extended from
the bill insertion slot 5 toward the back side, and is formed to be
bent so as to be inclined downward at its rear side, and to be
eventually bent in the vertical direction. A discharge slot 3a from
which the bill is discharged into the bill housing part 100 is
formed in the bill traveling route 3, and the bill discharged
therefrom is fed into a feed port (receiving port) 103 of the bill
housing part 100 in the vertical direction.
The bill conveyance mechanism 6 is a mechanism capable of conveying
a bill inserted from the bill insertion slot 5 along the inserting
direction, and of conveying back the bill in an insertion state
toward the bill insertion slot 5. The bill conveyance mechanism 6
comprises a motor 13 (refer to FIG. 6) serving as a driving source
installed in the apparatus main body 2; and conveyor roller pairs
(14A and 14B), (15A and 15B), (16A and 16B), and (17A and 17B)
which are installed at predetermined intervals along the bill
traveling direction in the bill traveling route 3, and are driven
to rotate by the motor 13.
The conveyor roller pairs are installed so as to be partially
exposed on the bill traveling route 3, and all the pairs are
constituted of driving rollers of the conveyor rollers 14B, 15B,
16B, and 17B installed on the underside of the bill traveling route
3 driven by the motor 13; and pinch-rollers of the conveyor rollers
14A, 15A, 16A, and 17A installed on the upperside and driven by the
these driving rollers. In addition, the conveyor roller pair (14A
and 14B) to first nip and hold therebetween the bill inserted from
the bill insertion slot 5, and to carry the bill toward the back
side, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is installed in one portion of the
center position of the bill traveling route 3, and a couple of the
conveyor roller pairs (15A and 15B), (16A and 16B), or (17A and
17B) being disposed in this order on the downstream side thereof
are respectively installed in a couple of portions with a
predetermined interval in the lateral direction of the bill
traveling route 3.
Further, the conveyor roller pair (14A and 14B) disposed in the
vicinity of the bill insertion slot 5 is usually in a state that
the upper conveyor roller 14A is spaced from the lower conveyor
roller 14B, and the upper conveyor roller 14A is driven to move
toward the lower conveyor roller 14B to nip and hold the inserted
bill therebetween when insertion of the bill is sensed by the
insertion detecting sensor 7. In addition, the upper conveyor
roller 14A is controllably driven to be pressed against or spaced
from the conveyor roller 14B by a driving source 70 (refer to a
block diagram of FIG. 10). The driving source may comprise a motor,
solenoid, and the like, and is installed in the open/close member
2B.
Then, the upper conveyor roller 14A is spaced from the lower
conveyor roller 14B so as to release the load on the bill when a
process (skew correction process) for positioning the bill for the
bill reading means 8 by eliminating tilt of the inserted bill is
executed by the skew correction mechanism 10, and the upper
conveyor roller 14A is driven to move toward the lower conveyor
roller 14B again to nip and hold the bill therebetween when the
skew correction process is completed. The skew correction mechanism
10 comprises a pair of right and left movable pieces 10A (only one
side is shown) that perform skew correction and the skew correction
process is performed by driving a motor 40 for a skew driving
mechanism.
The conveyor rollers 14B, 15B, 16B and 173 installed on the
underside of the bill traveling route 3 are, as shown in FIG. 6,
driven to rotate via the motor 13 and pulleys 14C, 15C, 16C, and
17C installed at the ends of the driving shafts of the respective
conveyor rollers. That is, a driving pulley 13A is installed on the
output shaft of the motor 13, and a driving belt 13B is wrapped
around between the pulleys 14C, 15C, 16C, and 17C installed at the
ends of the driving shafts of the respective conveyor rollers and
the driving pulley 13A. In addition, tension pulleys are engaged in
places with the driving belt 13B, which prevents the driving belt
13B from loosening.
In accordance with the configuration described above, when the
motor 13 is driven to normally rotate, the conveyor rollers 14B,
15B, 16B, and 17B are driven to normally rotate in synchronization
therewith to carry the bill toward the insertion direction. When
the motor 13 is driven to reversely rotate, the conveyor rollers
14B, 15B, 16B, and 17B are driven to reversely rotate in
synchronization therewith to carry back the bill toward the bill
insertion slot 5 side.
The insertion detecting sensor 7 is to generate a detection signal
when a bill inserted into the bill insertion slot 5 is detected. In
this embodiment, the insertion detecting sensor 7 is installed
between the pair of conveyor rollers (14A and 14B) and the skew
correction mechanism 10. The insertion detecting sensor 7
comprises, for example, an optical sensor such as a regressive
reflection type photo sensor. However, the insertion detecting
sensor 7 may comprise a mechanical sensor other than the optical
sensor.
Further, the movable piece passage detecting sensor 12 is to
generate a sensed signal when it is sensed that a front end of the
bill passes through a pair of right and left movable pieces 10A
constituting the skew correction mechanism 10, and the movable
piece passage detecting sensor 12 is installed on the upstream side
of the bill reading means 8. The movable piece passage detecting
sensor 12 also comprises an optical sensor or a mechanical sensor
in the same way as mentioned before with respect to the insertion
detecting sensor.
Further, the discharge detecting sensor 18 is to detect a trailing
end of the bill passing through such that it is detected that the
bill is discharged into the bill housing part 100. The discharge
detecting sensor 18 is disposed just in front of the receiving port
103 of the bill housing part 100 on the downstream side of the bill
traveling route 3. The discharge detecting sensor 18 also comprises
an optical sensor or a mechanical sensor in the same way as the
aforementioned insertion detecting sensor.
The bill reading means 8 reads bill information on the bill carried
in a state that the skew is eliminated by the skew correction
mechanism 10 (in a state that the bill is accurately positioned),
and judges whether the bill is true or false. In detail, for
example, the bill reading means 8 may comprise a line sensor that
performs reading of the bill such that a bill to be carried is
irradiated with light from upper and lower sides, and transmitted
light therethrough and reflected light therefrom are detected by a
light receiving element. A line sensor is shown in the drawing, and
an optical signal read by the line sensor is
photoelectric-converted, and the signal is compared and checked
with data of a legitimate bill stored in advance, which makes it
possible to identify the authenticity of the bill to be
carried.
The bill housing part 100 stacks and houses bills one after another
after the bills are identified as being legitimate by the bill
reading means 8.
As shown in FIG. 7, the main body frame 100A constituting the bill
housing part 100 is formed into a substantially rectangular
parallelepiped (or cuboid) shape, and one end of bias means (e.g.,
bias spring) 106 is attached to an interior side of a front wall
102a thereof, and a placing plate 105 on which bills to be fed via
the above-described receiving port 103 are sequentially stacked is
provided to the other end thereof. Therefore, the placing plate 105
is in a state that it is pressed toward the presser plate 115,
which will be described later, by the bias means 106.
As mentioned above, the storage means 104 is mounted on the upper
wall 102b of the main body frame 100A. The storage means 104 has a
function to store information concerning a bill and the like, which
is sent in a noncontact manner from the apparatus main body 2 side,
and is constituted of an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag
in this embodiment. As shown in an enlarged manner in FIG. 7, the
storage means 104 comprises an IC chip (storage part) 104b which is
implemented on a board 104a made of an insulating material, and a
coil antenna 104c which is printed on the board 104a and has both
ends thereof connected to the IC ship 104b. Although the storage
means 104 constituted of an ID tag is configured as in a passive
type having no battery, it may also be configured as in an active
type having a battery as well.
As mentioned above, the reader/writer 142 that writes information
(mainly constituted of information about the bill identified as
being authentic) into the storage means 104 is implemented on the
circuit board 141 disposed on the plate 2F mounted on the rear
surface side of the apparatus main body 2 and wirelessly sends the
bill information and the like across a predetermined space to the
storage means 104. That is, although not illustrated in detail, the
reader/writer 142 disposed on the circuit board 141 comprises a
communications controller which is constituted of a passive
component such as an IC chip and an LCR and the like, an antenna
which is connected to the communications controller and sends the
bill information and the like to the coil antenna 104c of the
storage means 104, and a matching circuit which performs matching
based on an electromagnetic wave frequency to be used for
communications and input/output impedances, whereby these
components are implemented on the circuit board 141.
Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the main body frame 100A is so
configured that a lower wall 102c rotates in a direction of an
arrow about a spindle 102d such that the bills housed inside may be
taken out. Therefore, the lower wall 102c also has a function as an
opening/closing door of the bill housing part 100.
In the configuration of the bill housing part according to this
embodiment, the storage means 104 is disposed on the upper wall
102b, and the storage means 104 is so arranged as to be opposite to
the lower wall 102c, which is the opening/closing door, while
biasing means above, the biasing means 106 is so configured as to
have such a relationship that it is interposed between a portion
serving as the opening/closing lid and the storage means whereby
the biasing means (biasing spring) 106, interposed between the
lower wall 102c and the storage means 104, may become such an
obstruction as shown in FIG. 8 that a fraudulent activity can be
prevented effectively although, for example, it is attempted to
replace the legitimate storage part with another storage part
storing illegitimate information for an illicit purpose by opening
the lower wall 102c.
In the main body frame 100A, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the presser
standby part in which bills having dropped from a receiving port
103 are kept and held is also provided. A pair of regulatory
members 110 are extending in a vertical direction and disposed on
both sides of the placing plate of the press standby part 108. An
opening 110A, through which the presser plate 115 passes in a
process of successively stacking bills onto the placing plate 105,
is formed between the pair of regulatory members 110.
Further, protruding walls 100B are formed on both side walls inside
the main body frame 100A such that the placing plate may hit and
contact thereon when the placing plate is pressed by the biasing
means 106. The protruding walls 100B fulfill a role to stably hold
the stacked bills by hit and contact on both sides of the uppermost
bill of the stacked bills when the presser plate is biased by the
biasing means as bills are successively stacked on the placing
plate 105.
Further, the presser plate 115 that presses bills having fallen in
the press standby part 108 from the receiving port 103 toward the
placing plate 105 is arranged in the main body frame 100A. The
presser plate 115 is formed in such a size that it may be capable
of reciprocating through an opening formed between the pair of
regulatory members 110 and is driven to reciprocate between a
position where the bills are pressed onto the placing plate 105 and
another position where the press standby part 108 is opened.
The presser plate 115 is driven to reciprocate as described above
via a presser plate driving mechanism 120 installed in the main
body frame 100A. The presser plate driving mechanism 120 comprises:
a pair of link members 115a and 115b having respective ends thereof
supported pivotally by the presser plate 115 so as to allow the
presser plate 115 to reciprocate in an arrow A direction in FIG. 5,
and these link members 115a and 115b are connected in a shape of
letter and the other ends opposite to the respective ends are
supported pivotally by a movable member 122 installed movably in a
vertical direction (an arrow B direction). A rack is formed in the
movable member 122 along an arrow B direction and geared (engaged)
with a pinion constituting the presser plate driving mechanism 120
(the pinion is arranged coaxially with the gear 124B in FIG.
5).
As shown in FIG. 5, a housing part side gear train 124 constituting
the presser plate driving mechanism 120 is connected to the pinion.
In this case, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a
driving source (a motor 20) and a main body side gear train 21
sequentially engaged with the motor 20 are installed in the
above-described apparatus main body 2, and when the bill housing
part 100 is mounted to a stand 2D disposed on the apparatus main
body 2, the main body side gear train 21 is to be connected to the
housing part side gear train 124. The housing part side gear train
124 comprises a gear 124B installed coaxially with the pinion and
gears 124C, 124D to be engaged sequentially with the gear 124B, and
when the bill housing part 100 is mounted to and demounted from the
apparatus main body 2, the gear 124D is configured to be engaged
with and disengaged from a final gear 21A of the main body side
gear train 21.
As a result therefrom, the presser plate 115 is driven to
reciprocate in the arrow A direction as the motor 20 installed in
the apparatus main body 2 is driven to rotate so as to drive the
main body side gear train 21 and in turn the presser plate driving
mechanism 120 (the housing part side gear train 124, the rack 122A
formed in the movable member 122, and the link members 115a, 115b,
etc.).
The magnetic sensor 140 detecting that a predetermined number of
bills are placed on the placing plate 105 is installed inside the
frame 2A of the apparatus main body 2. As described above, the
magnetic sensor 140 is implemented on the sensor board 141 disposed
on the plate 2F interposed between the stand 2D and the frame 2A
that constitutes the apparatus main body 2. The magnet 140A that
applies the magnetic field to the magnetic sensor 140 is fixed to a
central portion of a rear surface of the placing plate 105 of the
bill housing part 100.
The magnetic sensor 140 is installed at a predetermined position in
a direction in which the placing plate 105 is pressed, the placing
plate 105 is pressed by the presser plate 115 against the biasing
force of the biasing means 106, and as a loaded amount of bills on
the placing plate 105 increases and then exceeds a predetermined
number of bills, the magnetic field caused by the magnet 140A
becomes detected such that the detection signal is generated. The
position at which the magnetic sensor 140 is installed (the
position at which detection signal is generated) is determined in
advance according to a size of the bill housing part to be mounted,
and for example, the magnetic sensor 140 is installed so that the
detection signal is generated before the bills loaded on the
placing plate 105 reaches a predetermined number of bills
determined in advance.
In this case, the magnetic sensor 140 (sensor board 141) may be
installed at a plurality of locations along the pressing direction
of the presser plate 115. For example, by installing a magnetic
sensor 140B of the same kind on a further inner side along the
pressing direction from the magnetic sensor 140 as shown in FIG. 7,
it is also possible to detect another number of bills in relation
to the bills housed in the bill housing part 100. This
configuration is in consideration because another kind of bill
housing part 100 having a different housing capacity may be mounted
to the stand 2D, and the other kind of bill housing part 100 having
another housing capacity may be mounted to the same apparatus main
body 2, which can accept different kinds of bill housing parts.
Conveyor members 150 which are capable of touching the bill
conveyed-in from the receiving port 103 are installed in the main
body frame 100A of the bill housing part 100. The conveyor members
150 take their own role to contact the bill conveyed-in so as to
stably guide the bill into an appropriate position in the press
standby part 108 (position where the bill can be stably pressed
without causing the bill to be moved to the right or left side when
the bill is pressed by the presser plate 115). In this embodiment,
the conveyor members are constituted of belt-like members
(hereafter called belts 150) installed so as to face the press
standby part 108.
In this case, the belts 150 are installed so as to extend along the
conveying-in direction with respect to the bill, and are wrapped
around the pair of pulleys 150A and 150B supported rotatably on
both ends in the conveying-in direction. Further, the belts 150
contact a conveyor roller 150C extending in an axis direction which
is supported rotatably in the region of the receiving port 103, and
the belts 150 and the conveyor roller 150C nip and hold the bill
conveyed-in the receiving port 103 therebetween to guide the bill
directly to the press standby part 108. Here, in this embodiment,
the pair of belts 150 are provided on the right and left sides,
respectively, across the above-described presser plate 115 in order
to be capable of contacting the surface on left and right sides of
the bill. In addition, the belts 150 may be prevented from
loosening by not only being wrapped around the pulleys 150A and
150B at the both ends, but also causing tension pulleys to push the
belts 150 at the intermediate positions, respectively.
The pair of belts 150 are configured to be driven by the motor 13
that drives the above-described plurality of conveyor rollers
installed in the apparatus main body 2. In detail, as shown in FIG.
6, the above-described driving belt 13B driven by the motor 13 is
wrapped around a pulley 13D for the driving force transmission, and
a gear train 153 installed at the end of the spindle of the pulley
150A supported rotatably on the receiving port 103 side is engaged
with a gear train 13E for the power transmission sequentially
installed onto the pulley 13D. That is, when the bill housing part
100 is mounted to the apparatus main body 2, an input gear of the
gear train 153 is configured to be engaged with a final gear of the
gear train 13E, and the pair of belts 150 are configured to be
driven to rotate in a synchronized manner with the above-described
conveyor rollers 14B, 15B 16B, and 17B for conveying the bill by
driving the motor 13 to rotate.
Also, the above-mentioned presser plate detecting sensor 23 is
configured to be capable of detecting a position of the presser
plate 115 that presses the bill toward the placing plate 105, and
further, to be capable of detecting the mounting or demounting
operation when the bill housing part 100 is mounted to or demounted
from the stand 2D and the frame 2A of the apparatus main body
2.
Next, the control means for controlling operations of the
above-mentioned paper sheet processing apparatus will be explained
with reference to FIG. 10.
The control means 200 comprises a control circuit board 200A that
controls the operations of the above-described respective drive
units, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 210 constituting bill
identification means, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 212, a RAM (Random
Access Memory) 214, and a reference data storage part 216 are
mounted on the control circuit board.
In the ROM 212, various types of programs such as operation
programs for the respective drive units such as the motor 13 that
drives the above-described bill conveyance mechanism, the motor 20
that drives the presser plate, the driving source 70 that drives
the conveyor roller 14A to contact/be spaced from the conveyor
roller 14B, the motor 40 to drive the skew driving mechanism 10; an
authenticity judgment program for the bill read by the bill reading
means 8; and permanent data are stored. The CPU 210 generates
control signals according to the programs stored in the ROM 212,
carries out the input and output of the signals with respect to the
respective drive units via an I/O port 220, and controls the
driving of the respective drive units.
Further, detection signals from various detecting sensor 7, the
movable piece passage detecting sensor 12, the discharge detecting
sensor 18, the magnetic sensor 140, the presser plate detecting
sensor 23 for detecting the position of the presser plate 115, and
the like are to be input to the CPU 210 via the I/O port 220, and
the driving of the respective drive units is controlled on the
basis of these detection signals.
Further, data and programs used for the operation of the CPU 210
are stored in the RAM 214, and reference data used for the
performance of a bill authenticity judgment, for example, various
types of data acquired from all the printing areas of the
legitimate bill (such as data about contrasting density and data
about transmitted light or reflected light when the bill is
irradiated with infrared ray) are stored as reference data in the
reference data storage part 216. In addition, the reference data is
stored in the dedicated reference data storage part 216. However,
the data may be stored in the ROM 212.
Then, a bill reading detection sensor (for example, a line sensor)
80 constituting the above-described bill reading means 8 is
connected to the CPU 210 via the I/O port 220, and bill reading
data read by the bill reading detection sensor 80 is compared with
the reference data stored in the reference data storage part 216
such that a bill authenticity judgment process is executed.
The aforementioned CPU 210 is configured to send the bill
information concerning information of bills to be housed in the
bill housing part to the reader/writer 142 via the I/O port 220.
That is, the CPU 210 compares the bill reading data read by the
bill reading detection sensor 80 with the reference data stored in
the reference data storage part 216 to execute the bill
authenticity judgment process, and, when the corresponding bill is
judged to be authentic, drives the reader/writer 142 to execute
writing of the information of the bill having been judged to be
authentic into the storage means (ID tag) 104 installed on the bill
housing part 100.
Here, in addition to the bill information to be housed (monetary
information), information about time of respective insertions of
bills and ID information identifying the specific apparatus main
body 2 may also be stored in association with each other in the
storage means 104. In detail, for example, when a specific bill
housing part 100 is mounted on the apparatus main body 2, unique ID
information provided in advance to the apparatus main body 2 of the
bill processing apparatus 1 is so written into the storage part
104b of the storage means 104 that the apparatus main body 2 and
the specific bill housing part 100 are associated with each
other.
The CPU 210 is also configured to send the same bill information as
written in the storage means 104 by the reader/writer 142 to an
externally connected management server 260 via the I/O port 220,
wherein the thus-sent bill information is associated with the
above-described unique ID information. As shown in FIG. 11, in this
embodiment, the management server 260 is configured to manage (as a
hall computer managing a game hall) a plurality of gaming machines
300, into which the bill processing apparatuses 1 are incorporated
respectively, and each of the bill processing apparatuses sends its
own bill information of deposited amount in association with its
unique ID information such that the management server 260 stores
and manages each monetary information of deposited amount along
with the unique ID information. Here, sending and receiving of
information are performed via the internet or a LAN such as a
dedicated communications network 500 between the management server
260 and the respective gaming machines 300 (bill processing
apparatuses 1).
In regard to a bill housing part 100 that is removed from the
above-described bill processing apparatus 1, for example, a
management apparatus 280 that reads the information stored in the
respective storage means (ID tags) 104 may be used as shown in FIG.
11 to manage the bills housed inside. In detail, the management
apparatus 280 comprises a management controller 281 including a
CPU, storage means, and the like, a reader/writer device (R/W
device) 282 being capable of wirelessly reading the deposit
information recorded in the storage means (ID tag) 104 incorporated
into the bill housing part 100, and a display device 283 such as a
display.
In the management apparatus 280, it is possible to check a
fraudulent activity, when the deposit information recorded in the
storage means (ID tag) 104 of each bill housing part 100 is read by
the reader/writer device 282, by performing data collation of the
thus-read deposit information with the deposit information
according to each bill housing part having been recorded in the
above-described management server 260 (deposit information matching
process).
Alternatively, while the display device 283 shows the deposit
information read by the reader/writer device 282, the bills
actually housed in the bill housing part 100 are taken out and
counted such that the deposit information and the counted amount
are compared so as to check the fraudulent activity. Here, in
addition to such a check, a double check can be performed to
improve the reliability by performing the deposit information
matching process as described above with respect to the
aforementioned management server 260.
As described above, the bill processing apparatus 1 and the bill
housing part 100 are so associated with the ID information, even
after a plurality of bill housing parts 100 are removed from many
gaming machines in order to collect the bills, that the apparatus
main bodies on which the corresponding bill housing parts are to be
mounted can be easily located, and further, from the monetary
information of the housed bills, it is possible to specify easily
which gaming machines 300 have been popular.
Also, in each bill processing apparatus 1, the information
concerning the bill inserted from the bill insertion slot 5 and
housed in the bill housing part 100 is wirelessly sent and received
between the reader/writer 142 serving as the transmitting part and
the coil antenna 104c of the storage means (ID tag) 104 as
described above such that it is not necessary to install a
connection terminal or a power and signal line in each of the
apparatuses, which used to be required conventionally, whereby the
contact failure between connection terminals of both may not occur.
Therefore, the information concerning the bill can thus be provided
reliably from the apparatus main body 2 to the bill housing part
100 side.
Also, in the above-described configuration, the coil antenna 104c
of the storage means (ID tag) 104 is installed on a surface side
(upper wall 102b) along the direction of mounting-and-demounting of
the bill housing part 100 and the reader/writer 142 to serve as the
transmitting part sending the bill information is installed on a
portion opposite to the upper wall 102 of the bill housing part 100
such that it may be possible to reduce the probability to cause the
communications failure between them even if the bill housing part
100 is incompletely mounted on the stand 2D to which the frame 2A
of the apparatus main body 2 is fixed.
In detail, as shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the bill housing part 100
is mounted to and demounted from the stand 2D of the apparatus main
body 2 as the upper wall 102b and a ceiling plate of the stand 2D
which is substantially parallel to the upper wall 102b slide with
each other without collision. That is, the upper wall 102b and the
ceiling plate are in such a positional relationship that they pass
by each other and movements of both may not cause a collision or a
bump (passing-by movement or structure). For example, such a
positional relationship can include the case that two bodies
relatively moving would not cross a sliding surface and such a
surface exists [in a distance between two bodies]. The coil antenna
104c of the storage means (including a storage device) 104 is
disposed on the upper wall 102b and the transmitting part 142 as a
counter part is disposed on the plate 2F arranged on the ceiling
plate such that the sliding surface divides an upper side and a
lower side. As shown in FIG. 12B, the reader/writer 142 and the
coil antenna 104c of the storage means are arranged in a direction
perpendicular to a mounting-and-demounting direction of the bill
housing part 100 such that a distance L may be produced between
them as shown in a right diagram of FIG. 12B if the bill housing
part 100 is incompletely mounted onto the stand 2D whereby the bill
information may not be sent reliably. In such a case, the upper
wall 102b and the ceiling plate of the stand 2D substantially
parallel thereto are in the positional relationship of passing-by,
but the coil antenna 104c of the storage means 104 and the
transmitting part 142 are not in the positional relationship of
passing-by. They contact (collide) with each other if they move in
the mounting-and-demounting direction. On the other hand, as shown
in FIG. 12A, the distance L between the reader/writer 142 disposed
on the frame side of the apparatus main body and the coil antenna
104c of the storage means 104 disposed on the bill housing 100 side
can be made within the range for enabling communications thereof in
either case of a complete mounting state as shown in a left diagram
or of an incomplete mounting state of the bill housing part 100
onto the stand 2D as shown in a right diagram whereby the
possibility of communications failure between them may be reduced.
In FIG. 12B, the coil antenna 104c of the storage means 104 may
collide on the transmitting part 142 if they become too close such
that both may be damaged. On the other hand, the possibility to
cause the communications failure may be increased if they do not
become close enough. In particular, it is possible to keep an
optimal positional relationship even though there is some
misalignment as shown in FIG. 12A if the antenna 104c has a
receiver sensitivity spreading homogenously in parallel to a
sliding surface. On the other hand, even though the sending and
receiving are made between the reader/writer 142 as a point and the
storage means 104 as another point, the configuration as shown in
FIG. 12 is preferable. As shown in FIGS. 12C and 12D, for example,
assuming the optimal distance between the reader/writer 142 and the
storage means 104 is P and that the misalignment from the optimal
distance is Q, then the distance between the reader/writer 142 and
the storage means 104 is (P.sup.2+Q.sup.2).sup.0.5 and (P+Q),
respectively. If these are compared, (P+Q) is larger. Here, the
coil antenna as referred to so far may be a loop antenna. For
example, a small loop antenna has the maximum directionality in a
perpendicular direction to the loop surface and null directionality
on the loop surface. As the transmission system, an electromagnetic
coupling type (mutual induction system) and a long wave having 550
KHz or less may be employed. Further, with a short wave band having
13.56 MHz or a long wave band having 135 KHz or less applied to the
coil antenna, an electromagnetic induction type (induced
electromagnetic system) which utilizes transmission medium to
transmit magnetic field generated around the antenna may be
utilized.
Although the positional relationship of the reader/writer 142 and
the storage means 104 is thus preferably a relationship as shown in
FIG. 12A, it is of course OK to have a positional relationship as
shown in FIG. 12B. Here, in the case of a positional relationship
as shown in FIG. 12B, the front wall 102a as shown in FIG. 7 is
preferably configured as the opening/closing lid installed on the
bill housing part 100. That is, such a positional relationship is
arranged that the biasing means is interposed between the
opening/closing lid and the storage means whereby a fraudulent
activity performed on the storage means 104 upon opening the
opening/closing lid can thereby be prevented effectively.
Next, the bill processing operation in the bill processing
apparatus 1 executed by the control means 200 will be described
with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 13 to 19.
When an operator inserts a bill into the bill insertion slot 5, the
conveyor roller pair (14A and 14B) installed in the vicinity of the
bill insertion slot is in a state that the rollers are spaced from
each other in an initial stage (refer to ST16 and ST56 to be
described later). Further, with respect to the presser plate 115,
the pair of link members 115a, 115b driving the presser plate 115
are positioned in a pathway of the press standby part 108, and the
presser plate 115 is so positioned (hereinafter, called "standby
position") that the pair of link members 115a, 115b prevent the
bill from being conveyed into the press standby part 108 from the
receiving port 103 (refer to ST134 to be described later). That is,
in this state, the presser plate 115 is brought into the opening
110A formed between the pair of regulatory members 110 such that
the opening through which the bill passes is in an occluded state
so as to prevent the bill stored in the bill housing part from
being drawn out.
Moreover, the pair of movable pieces 10A constituting the skew
correction mechanism 10 located on the downstream side of the
conveyor roller pair (14A, 14B) are in a state that the pair of
movable pieces 10A are moved to leave example, an interval between
the pair of movable pieces 10A is 52 mm; refer to ST15 and ST57 to
be described later) so as to prevent the bill from being drawn out
in the initial stage.
When the above-described pair of conveyor rollers (14A and 14B) are
in the initial state, the operator easily insert a wrinkled bill
into the bill insertion slot 5. Then, when the insertion detecting
sensor 7 detects the insertion of the bill (ST01), the driving
motor of the above-described presser plate 115 is driven to rotate
reversely for a predetermined amount (ST02) to move the presser
plate 115 to the initial position. In this initial position, the
press standby part 108 is in an open state (refer to FIG. 5), and
the bill can be conveyed into the inside of the bill housing part
100. That is, by driving the motor 20 to rotate reversely for a
predetermined amount, the presser plate 115 is driven from the
aforementioned standby position to the initial position via the
main body side gear train 21 and the presser plate driving
mechanism 120 (the housing part side gear train 124, the rack
formed on the movable member 122, and the link members 115a and
115b etc.). The press standby part 108 is opened by the movement of
the presser plate 115 such that the bill can be conveyed into the
inside of the bill housing part.
In this state, the above-described driving source 70 is driven to
move the upper conveyor roller 14A so as to make a contact with the
lower conveyor roller 14B. In accordance therewith, the inserted
bill is nipped and held therebetween by the pair of conveyor
rollers (14A and 14B) (ST03).
Next, a traveling route opening process is conducted (ST04). The
opening process is conducted by driving the pair of movable pieces
10A to move in separating directions so as to become apart with
each other as the motor 40 for the skew correction mechanism is
driven to rotate reversely as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 16
(ST100). At this time, when it is detected that the pair of movable
pieces 10A have moved to the predetermined positions (the maximum
open width positions) by the movable piece detecting sensor that
detects positions of the pair of movable pieces 10A (ST101), the
driving operation to rotate the motor 40 reversely is stopped
(ST102). This traveling route opening process allows the bill to
enter between the pair of movable pieces 10A. In addition, in the
previous step of ST04, the bill traveling route 3 is in a closed
state by a traveling route closing process (ST15, ST57) to be
described later. Thus, the bill traveling route 3 is closed in this
way before an insertion of the bill so as to prevent an element
such as a line sensor from being broken by, for example, inserting
a plate-like member from the bill insertion slot for illicit
purposes or the like.
Next, the bill conveyor motor 13 is driven to rotate normally
(ST05). The bill is carried into the inside of the apparatus by the
conveyor roller pair (14A and 14B), and when the movable piece
passage detecting sensor 12 installed on the downstream side from
the skew correction mechanism 10 detects the front end of the bill,
the bill conveyor motor 13 is stopped (ST06 and ST07). At this
time, the bill is located between the pair of movable pieces 10A
constituting the skew correction mechanism 10.
Next, the above-described driving source 70 is driven to allow the
conveyor roller pair (14A and 14B) holding the bill therebetween to
become apart from each other (ST08). At this time, the bill is in a
state that no load is applied.
Then, a skew correction operating process is executed as the bill
remains in this state (ST09). The skew correction operating process
is conducted by driving the motor 40 for the skew correction
mechanism to rotate normally to drive the pair of movable pieces
10A to get closer with each other. That is, in this skew correction
operating process, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 17, the motor
40 described above is driven to rotate normally to move the pair of
movable pieces 10A in respective directions such that the pair of
movable pieces 10A get closer with each other (ST110). The movement
of the movable pieces is continued until the interval becomes the
minimum width (example; width of 62 mm) of the bill registered in
the reference data storage part in the control means, and the skew
is corrected by the movable pieces 10A touching both sides of the
bill such that the bill may be positioned at the accurate center
position.
When the skew correction operating process as described above is
completed, a traveling route opening process is subsequently
executed (ST10). This process is conducted by moving the pair of
movable pieces 10A in separating directions as the above-described
motor 40 for the skew correction mechanism is driven to rotate
reversely (refer to ST100 to ST102 of FIG. 16).
Next, the above-described driving source 70 is driven to move the
upper conveyor roller 14A to contact the lower conveyor roller 14B,
and the bill is nipped and held between the pair of conveyor
rollers (14A and 14B) (ST11). Thereafter, the bill conveyor motor
13 is driven to rotate normally to carry the bill into the inside
of the apparatus, and when the bill passes through the bill reading
means 8, a bill reading process is executed (ST12 and ST13).
Then, when the bill to be carried passes through the bill reading
means 8, and the trailing end of the bill is detected by the
movable piece detecting sensor 12 (ST14), a process for closing the
bill traveling route 3 is executed (ST15). In this process, first,
as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 18, after the trailing end of the
bill is detected by the movable piece detecting sensor 12, the
above-described motor 40 is driven to rotate normally to move the
pair of movable pieces 10A in respective directions such that the
pair of movable pieces 10A get closer with each other (ST120).
Next, when it is sensed by the movable piece detecting sensor that
the movable pieces 10A move to the predetermined positions (minimum
open width positions: for example, width of 52 mm) (ST121), the
driving operation of the normal rotation of the motor is stopped
(ST122).
With this traveling route closing process, the pair of movable
pieces 10A are moved to the minimum open width positions (width of
52 mm) narrower than the width of any bill allowed to be inserted,
thereby effectively preventing the bill from being drawn out. That
is, by executing such a bill traveling route closing process, an
opening distance between the movable pieces 10A is made shorter
than the width of the inserted bill, thereby enabling the effective
prevention of an action of drawing-out the bill in the direction
toward the insertion slot by the operator for illicit purposes.
In addition, when the movable piece detecting sensor as described
above detects the movement of the movable pieces 10A in this state,
it may be considered that the operator is committing some
fraudulent activities such that a predetermined processes may be
executed. For example, a fraudulent manipulated signal (an anomaly
sensed signal) may be transmitted to a higher-level apparatus that
manages the operations of the bill processing apparatus, or an
annunciator lamp may be provided on the bill processing apparatus,
and this lamp may flash, or without activating a process for input
acceptance (ST22) input by another operator thereafter, a process
in which a discharge operation or the like is forcibly carried out
may be executed. Or, appropriate processes such as canceling the
operation of the bill processing apparatus (for example, a process
for stopping the processing, a process for discharging the bill,
and the like) and the like may be executed.
Further, in succession to the traveling route closing process
described above (ST15), a conveyor roller pair spacing process is
executed such that the driving source 70 is driven to make the
conveyor roller pair (14A, 14B) having been in a state capable of
nipping and holding the bill therebetween separate from each other
(ST16). By executing the conveyor roller pair spacing process, even
if the operator additionally inserts (double insertion) another
bill by mistake, the bill is not subject to a feeding operation by
the conveyor roller pair (14A, 14B) and hits front ends of the pair
of movable pieces 10A in a closed state according to ST15 such that
it is possible to reliably prevent the operation of bill
double-insertion.
Along with the bill traveling route closing process as mentioned
above, when the bill reading means 8 reads the data up to the
trailing end of the bill, the bill conveyor motor 13 is driven for
a predetermined amount and leave the bill stopped at a
predetermined position (escrow position; position where the bill is
carried toward the downstream by 13 mm from the center position of
the bill reading means 8), and at this time, a bill authenticity
judgment process is executed by the control means 200 (ST17 to
ST20).
In the bill authenticity judgment process at ST20 as described
above, when the bill is judged as a legitimate bill (ST21; Yes), an
input from the operator is received (ST22). This input corresponds
to an acceptance operation in which the operator presses an
acceptance button in order to accept provision of services (for
example, in the case of a gaming device, an acceptance process
accompanied by start of a game), and a return operation in which
the operator presses a return button in order to execute a process
for returning the inserted bill.
Then, when an operation to accept the provision of various types of
services is input (ST23; Yes), the bill conveyor motor 13 is
consecutively driven to rotate normally to convey the bill in this
state toward the bill housing part 100 (ST24). While the bill is
conveyed, the bill conveyor motor 13 is driven to rotate normally
until the trailing end of the bill is detected by the discharge
detecting sensor 18, and after the trailing end of the bill is
detected by the discharge detecting sensor 18 (ST25), the bill
conveyor motor 13 is driven to rotate normally by the predetermined
amount (ST26 and ST27).
The process for driving the bill conveyor motor 13 to rotate
normally in ST26 and ST27 corresponds to a driving amount for which
the bill is conveyed in the receiving port 103 of the bill housing
part 100 from the discharge slot 3a on the downstream side of the
bill traveling route 3 of the apparatus main body 2 so that the
pair of belts 150 contact the surface on both sides of the
conveyed-in bill to guide the bill stably to the press standby part
108. That is, by further driving the bill conveyor motor 13 to
rotate normally for a predetermined amount after the trailing end
of the bill is detected by the discharge detecting sensor 18, the
pair of belts 150 contact the bill conveyed-in and are driven in
the bill feeding direction so as to guide the bill in a stable
state to the press standby part 108.
Then, after the above-described bill conveyor motor 13 is stopped,
the process for driving the presser plate 115 is executed (ST28)
such that the bill is placed on the placing plate 105.
The process for driving the presser plate 115 is executed in
accordance with the flowchart as shown in FIG. 19. First, the
driving motor 20 of the presser plate 115 is driven to rotate
normally for a predetermine amount to move the presser plate 115
staying at the initial position in the above ST02 until it gets to
the pressing position (ST130). With respect to the amount of
driving to rotate normally the motor 20, if the motor 20 is
composed of a DC motor, a predetermined amount of rotation can be
set such that pulses are generated by utilizing, for example, an
encoder and the number of the pulses is measured. That is, by
driving the driving motor 20 to rotate normally for a predetermined
amount, the presser plate 115 is moved from the initial position to
the pressing position via the main body side gear train 21 and the
presser plate driving mechanism 120 (the housing part side gear
train 124, the rack formed on the movable member 122, and the link
members 115a and 115b and so on).
According to the movement of the presser plate 115, the bill in the
press standby part 108 passes through the opening 110A between the
pair of regulatory members 110 so as to be deflected in a U-shape
in a laterally symmetrical manner, and the bill is finally pressed
onto the placing plate 105. In this case, since the bill is
conveyed to the appropriate pressing position without leaning to
either side by the pair of belts 150 as described above, even if
the presser plate 115 is moved, the bill is placed on the placing
plate 105 stably without jamming or the like between the presser
plate 115 and the pair of regulatory members 110.
When the presser plate 115 is moved to the pressing position, the
presser plate 115 is processed to wait (ST131) for a predetermined
time (200 ms) at the pressing position so as to place the bill
stably on the placing plate 105, and thereafter, the driving motor
20 of the presser plate 115 is driven to rotate reversely (ST132).
Then, when it is detected by the presser plate detecting sensor 23
that the presser plate 115 has moved from the pressing position to
the aforementioned standby position, the driving of the motor 20 is
stopped, and the presser plate 115 is stopped in the standby
position (ST133: Yes, ST134). As described above, the bill cannot
be drawn out in this standby position.
In addition, if the presser plate detecting sensor 23 does not
detect that the presser plate 115 has moved from the pressing
position to the standby position within a predetermined period of
time, it is considered that something is wrong with the stack
operation, and the signal expressing that something is wrong with
the stack operation (an error signal) is transmitted to an external
device, annunciation means, or the like (ST133; No, ST133A).
As described above, when the presser plate 115 is stopped at the
standby position, the CPU 210 subsequently sends the read monetary
information of the bill along with the unique ID information
assigned to the bill processing apparatus to the management server
260 (ST135). Therefore, the deposit information sent from each bill
processing apparatus is thus recorded and managed successively by
the management server 260.
Then, after sending the deposit information to the management
server 260, the CPU 210 sends the deposit information to the
reader/writer 142 (ST136), and the reader/writer 142 writes the
deposit information into the storage means (ID tag) disposed on the
bill housing part 100.
Then, after the presser plate 115 is moved from the pressing
position to the standby position, in a case where the magnetic
sensor 140 detects magnetism provided to the rear surface of the
placing plate 105 (ST137; Yes), a detection signal is sent to the
CPU 210 to inform that the number of bills stacked in the bill
housing part 100 approaches the predetermined number (ST138; No,
ST139).
In this embodiment, in designing a detection signal generation as a
threshold value from the magnetic sensor 140, the magnetic sensor
140 is installed to generate the detection signal before the number
of bills stacked on the placing plate 105 reaches the predetermined
number (that is, the predetermined number less nine (9)) in
consideration of safely and easy handling.
Concretely, when the magnetic sensor 140 begins to detect the
magnetism emitted by the magnet 140a, the CPU 210 increments a
count repeatedly at each subsequent bill housing operation (for
each operation of housing a single bill) (ST140) and writes the
information in the RAM 214. When the count is not exceeding nine
(9), the CPU 210 causes a notification that the stacker is
approaching a full state (ST139). This notification may
specifically be comprised of a drive signal to be sent to the
notification means configured with a speaker that notifies such a
state by sound, a lamp that notifies the state visually, and so on
to make the administrator and the like notified that the stacker is
approaching a full state by means of the sound, lamp, and so on.
With this notification, the administrator can exchange the bill
housing parts 100 before the number of bills in the bill housing
part 100 reaches the predetermined number.
Otherwise, the CPU 210 may be configured to send an error signal to
the management server 260 (see FIG. 10) that manages the operations
of bill processing apparatuses (gaming machine) to enable the state
to be grasped in the other location. By this configuration, the
timing for removing the bill housing part 100 can be managed
appropriately.
Further, after the magnetic sensor 140 detects the magnetism, when
it is detected that ten (10) or more times the bill stack operation
is repeated without exchanging the bill housing part 100 (ST138;
Yes), a process of disabling the apparatus is executed in order for
bills not to be further inserted therein (ST138A). With respect to
this disabling process, for example, a process of stopping the bill
conveyor motor 13 driving the bill conveyance mechanism 6 described
above may be performed in order not to convey the bill inside even
if a user inserts a bill into the bill insertion slot. In this way,
because no more bills beyond the predetermined number of bills are
thus prevented from being conveyed into the bill housing part 100,
it is possible to prevent components of the bill housing part 100
from breaking down.
Also, in the process of ST21 as described above, when the inserted
bill is judged as a non-legitimate bill or the operator presses the
return button (ST23; No), a traveling route opening process is
executed (ST51, refer to ST100 to ST102 of FIG. 16), then, the bill
conveyor motor 13 is driven to rotate reversely, and the conveyor
roller pair (14A, 14B) are brought into contact with each other
such that the bill waiting at the escrow position is conveyed
toward the bill insertion slot 5 (ST52 and ST53). Then, when the
insertion detecting sensor 7 senses the trailing end of the bill to
be returned toward the bill insertion slot 5, the driving to
reversely rotate the bill conveyor motor 13 is stopped, and
above-described driving source 70 is driven to make the conveyor
roller pair (14A and 14B) having been in a state of nipping and
holding the bill therebetween separate from each other (ST54 to
ST56). Then, the traveling route closing process is executed
(AT57), the motor 20 for driving the presser plate 115 is driven to
rotate forward for a predetermined amount to return the presser
plate, which had been moved to the initial position in ST02, to the
standby position (ST58), and the series of processes have been
completed.
As mentioned above, the embodiment of the present invention is
described. However, the present invention is not limited to the
above-described embodiments, and various modifications of the
present invention can be implemented.
In the present invention, it suffices that a transmitting part
(reader/writer) which wirelessly sends information of a bill
inserted from a bill insertion slot is installed onto an apparatus
main body side, and that an antenna wirelessly receiving the
information sent from the transmitting part and a storage part
storing the bill information received from the antenna are disposed
on a bill housing part side, and the other components of the
apparatus such as a driving source for driving the various kinds of
driving members as mentioned above or a power transmission
mechanism from the driving source may be modified as appropriate.
The transmitting part and the antenna receiving the information
sent from the transmitting part may be modified as appropriate with
respect to the configuration and the arranged positions.
According to the above-described embodiment of the paper sheet
processing apparatus, the information of the paper sheet housed in
the housing part after having been inserted from the insertion slot
is sent and received between the transmitting part and the antenna
by wireless transmission such that it is not necessary to install
connection terminals or a power and signal line in the apparatus,
whereby an electrical contact failure of the connection terminals
between them would not occur.
Further, the housing part according to the above-described
embodiment comprises a placing plate on which the paper sheets are
placed, a spring which pushes the placing plate, and an
opening/closing door from which the paper sheets housed on the
placing plate are taken out, wherein the storage part is installed
at an opposite position to the opening/closing door with the spring
being interposed inbetween.
For example, even if it is attempted to replace the legitimate
storage part with another storage part storing illegitimate
information by opening the opening/closing door, such a fraudulent
activity can be prevented effectively because the spring is
interposed between the opening/closing door and the storage
part.
Further, the housing part of the above-mentioned embodiment is
configured to be mountable to and demountable from a frame
constituting the apparatus main body, the antenna is installed on a
surface side along an mounting/demounting direction of the housing
part, and the transmitting part is installed on an opposing surface
side of the frame opposite to the surface side of the housing
part.
Even if the mounting of the housing part onto the frame of the
apparatus main body is incomplete, for example, a distance between
the transmitting part installed on the frame side and the antenna
installed on the housing part side can be maintained within a
distance enabling communications, a risk of communications failure
between both components can be reduced.
As described so far, a paper sheet processing apparatus being
capable of reliably providing information concerning the paper
sheet to a housing body side can be provided.
The present invention can be incorporated into various types of
apparatuses to provide products and services by inserting a bill
thereinto, for example. It is also possible to apply it to a
processing device to process a paper sheet such as a coupon ticket,
not limited to, but including the bill.
* * * * *